Dinner has a funny way of arriving every single night (not really funny at all), whether we’ve planned for it or not. It’s relentless like that. So today, I’m sharing my favourite two simple ways to make dinner easier, plus my simple Butternut Squash Ravioli Lasagna recipe from my brand new cookbook Fraiche and Simple to solve dinner tonight.
I’m a pretty spontaneous person, but not having a plan for dinner is a surefire way for things to go sideways. You order takeout that costs too much and takes too long. You make a mediocre dinner nobody’s excited about (ahem, I’m looking at you cereal). Or you stand in front of the fridge trying to build something out of three ingredients that have no business being together.
Here’s the slightly embarrassing part: I’m a Registered Dietitian. I write recipes for a living. Of all people, I thought I should have had this figured out years ago. It’s like I would walk through most days almost surprised when dinner showed up again. Oh, there you are again! (insert melting emoji).
For ages I beat myself up over it. Then it finally dawned on me: I knew how to feed my family. I simply didn’t always have the capacity. And if I was feeling that way, I couldn’t be the only one.
Cooking Dinner Was Never The Problem
By five o’clock, most of us have already made about 35,000 decisions (yes, that’s an actual stat, wild, right?). Then dinner shows up asking for a few more. What should we make? Do we have the ingredients? Will the kids eat it? Did anyone remember to take the chicken out of the freezer?
Someone has to hold all of that. You.
I don’t think most of us are tired of cooking, I actually love cooking once I know what I’m making and have the ingredients. It’s carrying the responsibility of figuring out what everyone eats, every single day, and putting it all together that gets exhausting. That realization shaped two things I’ve created, the two I still reach for when dinner starts taking up more space in my brain than it deserves.
1. Fraiche and Simple (my NEW cookbook!)
I didn’t want to write another cookbook full of beautiful recipes and leave you alone with the rest of the job.
Listen. We don’t have a shortage of recipes anymore, most of us have hundreds saved on Instagram and Pinterest. What we need is help turning good intentions into food on the table when life is full.
That’s the heart of my new BESTSELLING cookbook, Fraiche and Simple (PS: it’s 25% off here). For everyone who has purchased, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m so happy to have a place in your kitchens.
Inside are more than 100 recipes for real life: one-pan meals, sheet-pan dinners, no-fuss casseroles, big-batch breakfasts and simple sweets. SOS meals that take 30 minutes or less, freezer-friendly and make-ahead recipes, and ideas for reinventing leftovers. Keep scrolling for my Butternut Squash Ravioli Lasagna recipe – a Fraiche and Simple staple.
Just as important, eight complete weeks of meal plans and grocery lists are included. The book doesn’t just help you cook dinner, it answers the question that comes before it: what are we making?
Every recipe had to pass my real-life test. Could someone make it on a Wednesday when everyone’s hungry? Can you find the ingredients at a regular grocery store? Will the leftovers still be good tomorrow? Will you actually want to make it again? While developing the book, I pictured a younger version of myself with a toddler on my hip, sleep-deprived, still wanting to feed my family something good. If she couldn’t reasonably make it, it didn’t belong in this book.
And hearing this from you has meant everything:
“I love the make-ahead concept and can already see myself relying on these recipes for busy weeknight meals, especially now that I’m a mom. After a year of maternity leave, the book has re-inspired my love of cooking and made it feel fun and manageable again.” – Nicole
“Hi! Just wanted to let you know my sister and I have both tried a few recipes from the newest cookbook and they’ve all been awesome! We’ve had great feedback from kids (both ours and the ones at school) on the blueberry muffins and the Chicken Ricotta Meatballs. Can’t wait to try more, but wanted to share some of the winners so far, and we haven’t even had the books a week!” – Carla
100+ recipes that help with real life. If you could use a little help at dinner, and don’t mind a few sauce splatters and dog-eared pages along the way, get your copy of Fraiche and Simple today.
Why I Care So Much About Making Dinner Easier
My grandma, my Boomba, was a complete legend. Her meals weren’t fancy, but there was always enough food for everyone, and anyone else who happened to walk through the door. You could always pull up another chair.
She taught me that food is never just food. It’s how we care for people, how we gather them and make them feel like they belong. That’s still the part I care about most today.
Family dinner doesn’t need to happen seven nights a week or look like a photograph to be meaningful. Maybe everyone eats together three nights this week. Maybe Sunday dinner is the one you protect. The goal isn’t a perfect dinner, it’s having enough energy left to enjoy the people sitting around it.
Which leads me to strategy #2 for ‘how to get dinner on the table without exhausting yourself’.
2. Fraîche Table
The eight weeks in Fraiche and Simple are a wonderful place to begin. But eventually you reach the end of those eight weeks. Dinner (very rudely) continues to arrive.
That’s where Fraîche Table comes in, my online meal-plan and the long-term solution (like an extension of the cookbook). It gives you a weekly plan filled with trusted Fraîche recipes, builds your grocery list automatically (you can even send the whole list to Instacart), and flexes around your household, your dietary needs, allergies, preferences, or the foods your family doesn’t enjoy.
From the Fraîche Table community:
“A couple weeks ago, as I was eating cereal for dinner after feeding my kids random stuff from the fridge, I broke down. I felt like a failure… I bought your meal plan. Over a week in and we are thrilled… I used to make so many decisions during the day that I truly had decision fatigue.” – Helen
“Previously, planning what to make for dinner night after night drained me of my energy and pulled the joy out of cooking. Fraîche Table meal planning allows me to start the week prepared, inspired and confident… I have so much more brain space!” – Cristina
“I cook for 8 people in my household every night. Two are vegetarian, two eat everything, two are picky children, one needs everything pureed and the other doesn’t like seafood or pork. Dinner became something I loathed. The Fraîche Table meal plan has been a lifesaver… it’s taken all the stress out of the planning and put the joy back in cooking for me.” – Tara
Start your free trial now!
Get A Little of Yourself Back
I hope these tools give you a little of yourself back.
The cookbook gives you eight weeks you can hold in your hands. Fraîche Table keeps that support going every week after, right from your phone. Both came from the same realization: knowing how to cook doesn’t mean you always have the energy to plan it.
The goal was never to become exceptionally good at managing dinner. It’s to have dinner take up less of your life, so there’s more room for the good stuff happening around it. Two ways I can help:
BUY FRAÎCHE AND SIMPLE My new best-selling cookbook with over 100 recipes plus eight weeks of complete meal plans and grocery lists.
TRY FRAÎCHE TABLE FREE FOR 10 DAYS Made for real life, my digital meal planner lives on your phone or computer and makes cooking and planning meals EASY, with your first 10 days on me.
Tori xx
Butternut Squash Ravioli Lasagna
A little treat for you, straight from my brand new cookbook, Fraiche and Simple! This Butternut Squash Ravioli Lasagna feels extra special without making you work extra hard for it (my favourite). Think tender ravioli, creamy butternut squash sauce, ricotta, spinach and plenty of cheese, all baked into one cozy fall dinner.
Ingredients
Butternut Squash Sauce
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or butter
- 2 cups yellow onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 6 cups peeled butternut squash cut into ½-inch (1 cm) pieces
- ½ cup 18% cream
- Salt and pepper
Filling
- 18 ounces refrigerated or frozen spinach and cheese ravioli
- 1 tub (475 g) ricotta cheese
- 2 cups spinach roughly chopped
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese grated & divided
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated & divided
Sage Pine Nut Panko Crisp
- ½ cup panko crumbs
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh sage leaves
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
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Make the Butternut Squash Sauce: Heat the olive oil in a large pot with a lid over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the chicken stock and butternut squash. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the squash is fork-tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the cream. Using an immersion blender or high-speed blender, carefully blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
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Meanwhile, cook the ravioli: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ravioli and cook until they float to the surface, about 3 minutes. Drain. Transfer the ravioli to a medium bowl and toss with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent them from sticking together.
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Make the Sage Pine Nut Panko Crisp: In a small bowl, stir together the panko, pine nuts, Parmesan, sage, olive oil and salt. Set aside.
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Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C) and grease a 13 × 9-inch (3.5 L) baking dish or individual-size ovenproof dishes.
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Assemble the Lasagna: Pour a third of the butternut squash sauce into the prepared baking dish and spread in an even layer. Cover with a single layer of half of the ravioli. Spread the ricotta evenly over the ravioli. Sprinkle the spinach on top. Scatter half of the mozzarella on top, followed by half of the Parmesan. Pour another third of the butternut squash sauce on top and spread evenly. Lay the remaining ravioli in a single layer on top. Finish with the remaining sauce, followed by the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
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Sprinkle the Sage Pine Nut Panko Crisp evenly on top of the lasagna. Bake until the top is just light golden brown and bubbling around the edges, about 20 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and broil until golden brown on top and the cheese bubbles, about 2 minutes. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
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